1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material containing a compound capable of releasing a development inhibitor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Incorporation of a compound which provides a development inhibitor in an amount depending on the optical density of an image formed upon development into a photographic light-sensitive material is known. Such a compound generally releases a development inhibitor by reaction with the oxidation product of a color developing agent. Typical development inhibitor releasing (DIR) compounds of this type include the so-called DIR couplers, the active site of which contains a group which exhibits a development inhibiting action when it is split from the active site. DIR couplers form dyes by coupling with the oxidation product of a color developing agent and release development inhibitors. Compounds such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,227,554, 3,701,783, 3,615,506, 3,617,291 and the like are known DIR couplers.
DIR couplers are employed for the purpose of controlling the image tone, reducing the graininess of the image, improving the sharpness of the image due to edge effects, improving the color reproduction due to interlayer effects, and the like, as is well known from the disclosure in the above-mentioned patent specifications.
However, in many cases, DIR couplers as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,554, etc., do not exert the desired inhibiting effect resulting in a degradation of the photographic properties and storage properties because the dye yield upon development adversely affects the color reproduction unless the appropriate type of coupler residue and the appropriate amount of coupler are precisely chosen, and a convenient selection of a coupler residue for color reproduction restricts the permissible reactivity of the oxidation product of the color developing agent and the coupler. In addition, DIR couplers of this type have various disadvantages such as poor stability against ageing, they often exhibit a desensitization effect, they produce mottle resulting from contamination of the developer solution and the like.
The so-called non-color forming type of coupling compounds were developed with the intention of eliminating these disadvantages, which coupling compounds form essentially colorless products or colored products, whose color, however, changes and becomes essentially colorless in the course of photographic treatment upon undergoing a coupling reaction with the oxidation product of a color developing agent, and also yield a development inhibitor at the same time. Known compounds of this type are disclosed in German Patent Publication No. 1,547,640, German Patent Application (OLS) No. 2,362,752, and the like. While these compounds have advantageous properties, they also have some drawbacks. For example, the stain resulting from the products formed by the reaction of those compounds and the oxidation products of color developing agents is one drawback of the compounds. Their most serious drawback, however, is the low reactivity of the coupling compounds with the oxidation products of color developing agents. Accordingly, a large amount of these compounds must be employed because of their low reactivity and this results in a decrease in the photographic properties, a reduction in shelf life and a difficulty in the silver removal in a bleaching step.
In order to improve these drawbacks, the compounds as described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 122335/1974 (compounds in which a triazole ring or a diazole ring is bonded to the coupling position thereof through the nitrogen atom at the 1-position of the ring) and Japanese Patent Application No. 81141/1976 have been developed. While the photographic properties are improved to a certain extent using these compounds, it is desirable from a practical standpoint to provide a compound whose properties have been additionally improved particularly with respect to providing compounds having an extremely high coupling reactivity, compounds improving the graininess of the images in low optical density areas and compounds providing sufficiently improved interlayer color correction effects.